Five years later, there is little improvement to show

Al Phillips /

Published Mar 17, 2013 at 05:00AM / Updated Nov 19, 2013 at 12:31AM

Just prior to the election in 2008, The Bulletin printed an article I had submitted which outlined publicized points of view of the Democratic Party. Perhaps it’s worth reviewing what was said then and what we have now. They said:

• Higher taxation solves problems and leads to prosperity. Today: We have higher taxation. After six trillion dollars was spent, it is generous to say that the economy and resulting prosperity are not robust.

• The government should make available, if not provide outright, health care to everybody, including illegal immigrants. Today: We have “Obamacare.”

• Focusing on profits companies make is more important than the disposable income and tax revenue their jobs provide. Today: We still have the world’s highest corporate tax rates.

• A redistribution of wealth from those who know how to make money to those who don’t is reasonable. Today: A philosophy President Barack Obama touts almost daily.

• Your right to protect yourself via the Second Amendment has little value. Today: Efforts to compromise the Second Amendment continue.

• The U.S. should be a cog in the wheel of a larger world order. Today: Our stature in the world has significantly diminished.

• A return to the policies of the previous (i.e., Clinton) administration will not lead to another 9/11. Today: We had Benghazi on 9-11-2012; four dead with varied explanations and cloudy answers.

• A woman’s right to choose has few, if any, limitations. Today: A lady recently died due to complications from a legal late-term abortion.

• Profits on IRA investments ought to be taxed at elevated rates. Today: That notion is not off the table.

• The government should consider taxing profits on all home sales. Today: Does not “Obamacare” include that provision?

• Teacher’s compensation should continue to be tenure-based rather than performance-based. Today: No change; basically, still tenure-based.

• We should continue to alter our way of life to accommodate immigrants. Today: Lip service but no results on immigration reform.

• We should continue to spend public money to accommodate various religions. Today: Public money has been spent to accommodate the Muslim religion.

• Political correctness makes us a better place. Today: We have political correctness to the point of nausea.

• Going green is more important than how we get to work tomorrow. Today: Solyndra is an example.

• Restoring voting rights to criminals is a correct thing to do. Today: This may still be on the table.

• The government can help you manage your life and do it better than you can. Today: Obama promising the government can and will do more and more.

• “Press one for English” is a way of life. Today: Sure seems that way.

• Appointing Supreme Court justices who support these notions will make us a better place. Today: One such justice has been appointed.

The Democrats have done what they’ve said they believe. Obama is clearly in favor of government controlling the nation’s wealth. But government cannot create wealth, so it continues to take from wealth creators. Government that continues to take while giving little back to wealth creators — our golden goose, if you will — is doomed to mediocrity at best. History substantiates that: Cuba, for example.

I concluded the 2008 article by commenting that you get what you pay for with your vote. Obama was elected. In my view and in that of many others as well, we are very little, if any — four-plus years later — better off than we were in 2008. Additionally, I see us being led in a direction that has not the slightest chance of returning us to the stature we once deserved in this world — politically, economically or even morally.

A modern, progressive country is one thing, but an administration relying on executive privilege, executive order and vague answers during sworn testimony is another thing entirely.

Connect with The Bulletin

Popular stories for News

Easter is just around the corner, which means that local venues and organizations are gathering, scattering and hiding colorful eggs for their yearly hunts. All you need to do is round up the kids and swing by one of the following locations for some egg-collecting fun. The following hunts, submitted to The Bulletin, are free unless otherwise noted. SATURDAYEASTER EGG HUNT: Children ages 12 and…
... more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The precious stone weighs 840 pounds, or 180,000 carats, if you were thinking of polishing it up and putting it on your finger. It has been appraised for as much as $925 million, and sold for as little as $60,000. But how do you put a price on misery? Which, as we know, loves company — and there has been plenty…
... more

The holiest plant of the Christmas season may be a raggedy shrub with peeling bark that seems to grow best in a dusty backyard in Tempe, Ariz. This is Boswellia sacra, better known as the frankincense tree. The shrub’s gum resin is one of the three biblical gifts that the wise men bestowed on the infant Jesus. Until recently, Americans who wished to cultivate their…
... more

The reality: That is not true, said Dr. Richard Koller, a Bend neurologist. A sneeze does increase the pressure inside the skull a little bit, he said. People have worried that sneezes may kill brain cells because other things that increase pressure on the brain, such as some types of stroke, can lead to brain cell death or even the death of the person. However,…
... more

Visiting Steelhead Falls requires a certain doggedness. The lovely stretch of the Deschutes River isn't listed in William Sullivan's books chronicling myriad hiking trails in Oregon. The U. S. Bureau of Land Management owns the parcel but doesn't say much about it on its website. Getting to Steelhead Falls requires navigating the maze that is Crooked River Ranch. Our outdated directions left us searching for…
... more